The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-12-13
ONE MOMENT TOO LATE.
From the Philadelpnia Times.

ly bending over a sick child tossing and NUT
tering in the unrest of fever. Every now and
then the word ''father'' escaped the child's
lips.
''That child grieves powerfully after her
father" said one Of the neighbors, who had
come 10 help the mother nurse the i'll child
THAT she does,' replied the poor mother
with weary sigh. ''IIe always set world OF
store by her 1t almost bro Ike her little heart
when he went to the war, and since she has
been sick she has begged for him the pitifullest
you ever heard"
Cant he come to see her?" asked the
neighbor.
no" replied the woman; ''his colonel said
he couldn't be spared now. He had furlough
last summer. If he just had known about this
and waited. Seems to me she might get well
if she could iustsee her father, and it wouldn't
fall so hard on me, either, if he was here.
Several days went by and little Sallie, the
sick child, grew worse. At length the mother
wrote an urgent letter to her husband, out of
the agony Of her heart, imploring him to come
| home at all costs if he wished to see his little
daughter alive again. Once more he asked for
| a furlough and again he was refused. An en-
gagement was pending. The enemy's force
| was greatly superior to ours and not man could
be spared.
John Ball was brave man; he had proved
that in many an engagement. Nothing could
| have tempted him to swerye from his duty as
a soldier, except his frantic desire to see his
| child once more. Under the pressure Of this
| fled to his rude cabin among the Alleghenies
just in time to see little Sallies face light up
once more with CLEAN OF joyful recognition
| and to receive her parting kiss. To do this he
| had incurred the brand of deserter, and had
| taken his life into his hands.
RETURNING TO THE RANKS
Scarcely were the child's remains inferred
| than he, without waiting to comfort his sor-
row-stricken wife, started back to camp, in
! tending to throw himself on the mercy of his
commander for exculpation of an oifense COM
mitted uuder so overwhelming pressure, or if
the wort came TO tic worst to meet
| his fate like a man. But new COM
| pcaton had arisen. Daring the few
days he had been absent the men on either side
| had changed their position like the figures on
| a chess-board, and the enemy'S troops had
come between him and his command He had
Travelled through cold, drenching rain, sleep
| ing ut night in forest to lessen the risk of
| falling into the enemy'S hands. He began to
| feel strange stupor creeping over him and
was just able to drag himself to the house of a
| friendly countryman, who took him in and
| kept him for the next few weeks, during which
| time he lay i'll of pneumonia. just as he was
| beginning to convalesCe and before he had
had time to voluntarily give himself up he
| was arrested as deserter. His wife followed
him to camp and pleaded for him. telling the
cause of his deserton with all the rude eloquence
| that strong emotion could dictate and taking
| all the blame on herself. In yan he was
tried and condemned by every rule of war as
deserter The commanding officer, however,
made this concession to the agonized wife-he
would defer the execution for three days, SO as
to give her time TO 90 to Richmond and inn
plore the clemency of President Davis, which
was now the sole hope for the prisoners life.
GOING TO PLEAD FOR HER HUSBAND.
Like Jennie Deans going to plead before tie
queen for her sisters life, the simple noun
tain women went to the Confederate capital
| and pleaded her husbands cause before Jeffer-
son Davis She had it in her peVeef- to- prove
that he had shown himself brave soldier;
that he had not left the camp from cowardice,
or detection from the cause, but from his over
wleming love for his dying child and his in
tense desire TO see her Cnce more before she
passed away. Davis finally granted the man S
pardon and drew up paper to that effect,
which he gave to a messenger, directing him
to take the next train and carry the dispatch
to the prisoners commanding officer He,
moreover, gave the woman duplicate paper,
to make her husbands release the more GER
tain.
Joyfully she started off with the precious
document that was to carry life and liberty 10
her beloved husband. The cars seemed all too
slow for her burning impotence. The train
was always heavily loaded in those DAYS; there
was so much travelling to and fro so much
| shifting of the troops from one point to an
other. From hard and constant use during
the war the railroads got into very bad order,
| so that accidents and detentionS We're quite
frequent occurrences, especially towards the
| close of the war. On this fatefal trip one of
these frequent accidents occurred during the
| night 1t was not very disastrous accident,
but still it occasioned the detention of the train
until day before the necessary repairs could be
made.
NEARING CAMP.
T. seemed as if "the stars in their courses
fought against the condemned prisener. His
wife wrung her hands with frantic impationce
during the detention, but there was no help for
| it, She had to endure it, though each moment
seemed to her an hour. AT length she was speed
| ing on her way again, and i'll a few hours more
cha nd hp1s.i md Iln,-,
| messenger started together in n wagon for the
camp, urging the driver ON to almost frantic
haste AS they neared the camp the sound of Il
yolley of guns made the poor wife SILVER and
turn pale. They reached the camp. She could
not ask question, but the messenger re-
quested that they should be conducted to the
commanders tent. Silently she handed her
the presidents paper. lie took it, read it
with white face and lips and silently turned
away from her. 1t was too late; the terrible
truth was borne to her without n word being
spoken. With heartrcnding shrek she fell
| inSensible ON the ground. Tenderly the bravo
but,stern men around her lifted him up and
nlinistered to her and tears stood in many q
veterans eyes over the sorrow-strck ellW oman.
The commanding officer had deferred the
execution three days, and even late into the
| afternoon of the third day. Then thirteen
men from another regiment than John Balls
Were chosen, and twelve of them were given
muskets, though only one of these muskets
had Shot in it, The thirteenth man was held
its work eIiectually, and TO render the scene
more narrowing this actually proved TO be the
case, so the thirteenth man was called on to
give the death wound 10 the Inflated John
Ball. This man declared afterWard to a friend
that this was the most terrible moment of his
life and that he would rather have undergone
death himself than to be called on 10 fulfil
such task. have given n fictitious name to
the prisoner, but in ali other respects / have
adhered 10 facts.
THE WIRES FATE.
When the wife recovered from her Swoon her
brain was SO derangod by the terrible blow
that she seemed lnercifully unable to realize
or clearly recall the tragedy that had boiallen
her. Alternate fits of wild excitement and
gloomy apathy succeeded each other. She
slipped away out of camp and instiuctively
found her way hack to her humble cabin, and
after pinng there few weeks she was one
morning found lying dead or the grave Of lit
tic Sallc. VIRGINIA DARE
Golden Medical Discoyery"-tho grea;
blood purifier.
Why is it we cannot buy now the sweet. old
fashioned country ham' Judge samuel Lumpkir